Saturday, October 24, 2015

Knife Sheath


My brother's friend made a nice knife for himself, and he paid me to sharpen it. It was without a sheath so I made him one.


It initially had something like a convex grind. The edge was really blunt and just sharpening wouldn't have helped much. I decided to give it a Scandinavian grind. My coarsest stone is 6" long and 320 grit... it suffices to say we know each other well now, and a larger coarser stone is on its way. :')

Let me sharpen your things!




Tissue paper catching, but not quite hair-whittling sharp.


Made some strops with other leather scraps. I think the quality of leather is responsible for the scratches in the above picture. Or maybe it's because I didn't buy the electron-theory stropping aether. Maybe as business picks up...



I also sharpened this axe for the knifemaker. I tried to repair the sheath, which according to my brother, had gotten between the axe and a tree in the middle of the night.

The (saddle) stitches are just shy of the blade, buried in leather. I think they stand a chance.


Something nice and wooden will be posted next week.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Fan


Dad and I built a fan. He did most of the work. I designed it, ordered the parts, put the mechanical/electrical parts together, and mounted the motor. It has a nice quiet deep rumble like an airplane.


30" dia fan. 1725 RPM, 3/4 hp Baldor motor wired to 110 v. 7/8" fully keyed drive shaft on SKF mounted bearings.  Overall width and height is 36".



It's not entirely finished; it will get wire mesh on the front and back for safety.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Wooden Spooden


I got a Mora 163 hook knife for my birthday. Above is the second spoon I've made of old cherry. Making them is trance inducing, a little tricky.



Here's the first one I made:



I thought it was nice at first, but now it looks bulbous and awkward compared to the second one. I've been eating with it and it does deliver food to my face without issue!

I had a go at a cedar bowl too. The hook knife really isn't the tool for the job, and the cedar isn't really the wood for the job. I found it checking about a day in, so I cut the program budget and we left it like this:


With a hearty German breakfast:



Here are the tools. Intuition says the knife on the right is a bit long, but it's actually nice. Lots of reach, takes a long time to get dull. A little perilous, but no worse than the double (triple?) edged hook knife. I'm relieved every time I set the hook knife down and count all nine fingers.


More spoons to come, I am sure. Email me if your soup fork just isn't working out; I might be able to help.